With the browse chart designer feature, you can quickly generate graphical representations of browse data. You can toggle between the standard browse display (called the grid view) and the new chart view. Using the chart view editor, you can select data in a browse and have it displayed as a pie chart or bar graph, for example.

Example of a Browse Chart

To create charts from browses:

1 Start a browse and choose Setup | Chart Designer.

2 Design a chart using the Browse Chart Designer.

Browse Chart Designer

The Browse Chart Designer lets you choose settings that define a chart:

X-Axis Label

Enter the label for the chart’s x-axis data.

X Variable

Select the variable for the x-axis data from a pull-down menu listing the available columns in the browse.

Y-Axis Label

Enter the label for the chart’s y-axis data.

Y-Variables

Select the variables for the y-axis data from a pull-down menu listing the available columns in the browse. You can select up to five variables, depending on the type of chart you would like to use. For example, for a stacked bar chart you can select two or more variables.

Group By X Values

Select Yes if you want to display all the common x-axis data together in groups. Select No if you want to display the x-axis data individually. The x-axis data can be grouped in the following ways:

• Count displays the number of items in an x-axis group.

• Sum displays the sum of the values in an x-axis group.

• Average displays the average value in an x-axis group.

• Minimum displays the minimum value in an x-axis group.

• Maximum displays the maximum value in an x-axis group.

Chart Title

Enter a title for the chart.

Chart Type

Select from among the following types of charts:

• Column Chart

• Column Chart 3D

• Bar Chart

• Bar Chart 3D

• Pie Chart

• Pie Chart 3D

• Stacked Column Chart

• Stacked Column Chart 3D

• Stacked Bar Chart

• Stacked Bar Chart 3D

Preview

Click the Preview Chart button to view the chart before you save it.

3 Click Apply to view the chart.

Note: Rendering charts with many elements can be CPU-intensive. To prevent users from attempting to render large charts that could degrade their computer’s performance, the system checks the number of elements in a chart before rendering the chart and provides a warning if the number of elements might degrade performance.

In a chart without grouping, the number of elements in a chart is the number of records in the browse display. In a chart with grouping, the number of elements is the number of groups of records. The default value for the maximum number of elements allowed before a warning is displayed is 100 by default. An administrator can change this default setting by editing the <ChartElementsForChartWarning> setting in the Client Session Configuration file.

For stacked bar and column charts, the data values must be all positive or all negative.

For stacked 3D bar and column charts, you must have at least one row and one numeric column, and the data values must be all positive or all negative.

You can toggle between the chart view and the grid view of the browse by clicking on the Show Grid View or the Show Chart View icons. If you are in chart view, the Show Grid View icon is displayed, and if you are in grid view, the Show Chart View icon is displayed.

While in chart view, you can do the following:

• Rotate and Zoom 3D Charts. You can rotate 3D charts by pressing the Alt key and moving the mouse. Similarly, you can zoom 3D charts by pressing the Alt key and moving the mouse’s scroll wheel.

• Search Charts. The QAD .NET UI’s browse search capabilities apply to the chart view as well as the grid view. By using the search capabilities you can interactively change the chart view of the browse.

• Hide Titles and Legends. Chart titles and legends are shown by default. You can hide (or show) titles by right-clicking and selecting Hide Titles (or Show Titles). Similarly, you can hide (or show) the legend by right-clicking and selecting Hide Legend (or Show Legend).

• Launch Chart in New Window. To launch a chart in a new window, right-click on the chart and select Launch in New Window.

• Copy Chart to Clipboard. You can copy the chart to the clipboard so you can paste it in other applications. To copy the chart to the clipboard, right-click in the chart area and select Copy to Clipboard.

• Interactive Charting. For any item in the chart that has a drill-down, you can have a split-screen view of both the chart and the drill-down browse, which can also be displayed as a chart. When you click on an item in the first chart, the drill-down chart will automatically change to reflect the changed data for the drill-down. Clicking on an item in the chart also selects the associated row in the browse. Conversely, clicking on a row in a browse also selects the associated item in the chart.